The long answer is, basically I started out drawing comics for fun when I was about 18 and bored in an office job. Ran an online comic for a couple of years, and decided screw this for a game of trousers, and went to uni to study art. Did a foundation course in art and design and two years of a three year illustration degree. (No, didn't graduate.)

The Illustration degree taught me a lot of things... but they were mostly fine art things, to be honest. I got to play with a lot of different tools and mediums I'd never tried before, and learned a lot about how to think about art, generate ideas, express ideas, etc, but not much in the way of technical skill. There were no classes on form, negative space, light, colour, composition, or any of the other useful things I would have liked to have known. I sometimes wonder if I missed out on the basics by never taking art at all at school until I was in my twenties.

Anyway, so then I dropped out (because I felt like I wasn't learning anything useful) and have taught most of the rest of the stuff to myself. Articles, books, magazines, other people's tutorials, and chatting to other artists about their techniques have all helped tons. The most important and inspiring bit is always spending time around other artists and seeing what they're up to. Being surrounded by art and artists - people who will get excited about your work - is the best motivation and inspiration there is.

I studied your OC tutorial and I keep referencing back to it. From there my art has exploded into better and better images but I'm still having HUGE issues with painting anything other than the human subject. I love looking at what you do because your images are still a little on the rougher side and your strokes are much easier to figure out. I only say 'Rough' for lack of an appropriate and exact word that combines 'Awesome' and 'Honest' at the same time.

I've been thinking of writing a third tutorial, since it was *ages* since I wrote the first two and my work's come along since then. Haven't got a copy of Photoshop atm, and am still collecting precisely what I want to say (in my head, anyway), so nothing's happened yet, but it *might* happen in the future, possibly.

I really do need to do one on placing the figure in the background, and working on backgrounds in general, I think... also some tips on moving stuff, rearranging stuff, working with light, mixing soft and hard brushes, and things... I have some ideas, anyway.

You really sound like you're having a lot of fun with the art - that's fantastic! I'm so glad my little tutorials could be of some help! I've stuck you on my watchlist, btw - I want to see what you come up with next! (Your figure painting is really, really nice btw. I love the way you do faces.)

Gosh you're so nice, thank you! i don't paint with models, I just understand a female figure (I have to look at one every morning in the mirror anyway).

I can't wait to see your tutorials, with your help OC's been good to me. The complex brushes is something I might soon be graduating to, going back to Painter X on my desktop maybe. I'll keep watching you, seeing the things you create. Keep it up, darlin.

Don't be afraid to use reference, btw - all the professionals use reference all the time. In fact, I read a really interesting discussion over on Conceptart dot org recently on the use of reference... (in fact, here it is! [link] ) ...there's a lot of stuff to know about fair use, etc - and ideally an artist should make their own reference (taking photos, using live models), but I've heard a lot of pros talk about how aspiring artists will talk to them about how to improve, and the first thing the pros always ask is "are you using reference?" and "why not?"

Because one person's brain can't contain an extensive knowledge of everything. Using reference isn't cheating. Took me a very long time to figure that part out. I usually make my own reference, but it's very helpful to have.

Sorry, mini lecture - very presumptuous of me, I apologise! Thank you very much for all your kind words. Now let's get out there and kick some ass at art!

Aww, thanks! I worked on the detail for about five hours - the rest of the time was figuring out the general tones, composition, etc etc. I figured out a few good new tricks, too, so that was pretty awesome! Thank you for your comment!